Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-09-29
PROGRESS IN COOKERY.

PROGRESS IN COOKERY.
Il the Food Of To-Day Better Thaa rAss
VI Fifty Years Ago?
THIS is a question which at first IL
seems difficult to answer. The para
phernalia of housekeeping has in
creased tenfold, but we can not say
that the improvement has been in
; ratio to this increase. We are not ten
fold better housekeepers than our
grandmothers. The increased work
of the modern house calls for a reti-
nue. of servants where one or two
formerly did the work, or for extra
help in smaller households. where
formerly the work was chiefly done by
the mistress of the house. The vex-
ing question of service is continually
arising. and much of the cooking,
which was formerly done by the mis-
tress of the house, Is now left to the
unskilled hand of a domestic worker.
who is often utterly ignorant of the
primary laws of the kitchen. Our
larders of to-day are so much better
supplied with good and wholesome
food. our cooking facilities are so
much greater, our cooking utensils are
so much better. that it must be poor
cook, indeed, who can not set our
tables with more wholesome and a
greater variety of food.
There has been a great advance in
the last fifty years in the supply of
fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes were
then practically unknown. They were
called ''love apples" and were grown
for ornamental purposes. So firm
rooted was the common belief that they
were poisonous that it is related. the
two culprits who stole some from the
yard of a justice Of the peace and in
cidentally tasted one. soon found they
were attacked with what they believed
to be the pains of poison, and hastily
came to confess their theft. The va
rietics of sweet corn in use fifty years
ago were little better than field corn.
The culture of small fruits was un-
known. There were no strawberries
but the wild fruit.
The improvement in raising and fat
tcning beef. veal, mutton and lamb is
beyond question. The pork fifty years
ago was probably better than it is to-
day, but there has been a steady de-
crease in the use of pork rs proper
toned to the population. Other meats
have taken its place. A minister's
wife, who visited well-to-dO par
ishioncr on the Hudson river man,
years ago tells of sitting down to a din
ner table on which the sole dish was
huge platter of boiled pork with ap-
Piles, which were boiled with the pork
and served on the same platter. II
did my best to eat it," added the lady,
who had been city bred and used to
comparatively delicate fare, ''but l
was careful never to be caught at din
ner-time near that house afterward."
1t would be impossible to find so coarse
a dish as this on any mans table to-
day. The pork would be boiled sep
arately and the apples made into sauce.
Whether the poultry of to-day is bet
ter than formerly is question in spite
of the many fancy breeds of poultry in
market. Our grandmothers took
great care in raising their chickens
and capons and paid careful attention
to fricassees and pies of chicken which
modern cooks may well copy.
Canned fruits and vegetables have
added immensely to the resources of
the modern cook. There have been
great improvements in the speed and
fineness with which grains are ground.
All kinds of meal are now kiln-dried.
so that they will keep sweet in the
grocer, hands an indefinite time. but
the kiln-dried meal is not SO sweet as
moist meal of old time which had to
be purchased fresh from the mill.
Flour made by the patent-roller proc
ess is not quite so sweet, though it is
easier to make good light bread of it
than of the old-time -four. We should
turn back to some of the simpler ways
of our ancestors in cookery. The de-
mands of modern society have driven
the ladies Of the household from the
kitchen. and the preparation of food is
Lett too often in the hands of untu-
tored servants. ITO your saucepans,
women of Britain!' exclaimed Susan
nah Carter fifty years ago. The same
cry goes forth to the women of our
own land if they would have happy
homes and strong and healthy fam;-
lies.-N Y. Tribune.
Seven years ago Tai 70. a no
torious Chinese woman of San Fran